Various fasteners have been used on inexpensive or disposable garments such as diapers, including lengths of pressure-sensitive adhesive coated tape, snaps, and hook and loop fasteners.
Of these, lengths of pressure-sensitive adhesive coated tape are presently most widely used as the fasteners for disposable diapers. The lengths of tape both afford fastening the diaper in place on an individual such as a baby, and additionally, after the diaper has been soiled and removed from the individual, provide means for securing the soiled diaper in a rolled or folded condition surrounding the soiled portion of the diaper to facilitate its disposal. The presence of relatively small amounts of contaminants such as talcum powder or baby oil either on the pressure-sensitive adhesive or on the portion of the garment to which the pressure-sensitive adhesive is to be adhered by the user can reduce the reliability of such fasteners, however.
The use of hook and loop fasteners on inexpensive or disposable garments such as diapers substantially overcomes this problem of reduced fastener reliability due to contaminants such as talcum powder or baby oil, however, many hook and loop fasteners are too expensive to be economically used on disposable diapers. Thus, inexpensive portions for hook and loop fasteners are being developed that can securely close the diaper and allow a limited number (e.g., 10) openings and closings of the fastener without seriously degrading it, and are sufficiently inexpensive that they can economically be used on a disposable diaper or similar garment. While such hook and loop fasteners can provide secure fastening to hold the diaper in place and allow opening and closing of the fastener to inspect the condition of the diaper, the location of the hook and loop fastener portions that allows the diaper to be attached to an individual does not typically allow those fastener portions to secure the diaper in a rolled or folded condition surrounding a soiled portion thereof after the diaper is removed from an individual